Currently, small hand-held upholstery or stair hot water extraction wands, such as those sold by Precision Metal Forming, Inc., Klamath Falls, Oreg., are used to clean carpeted stair treads. To use such equipment the operator is required to work on his knees while he pulls the wand over the stair tread in a direction parallel to the tread's long axis. Since the vacuum slot of the wand is perpendicular to the long axis of the wand, in order to clean the lateral edges of the tread the operator must hold the wand in a first orientation that permits the vacuum slot to align in parallel with one lateral edge as the wand is moved over the carpet toward the center of the tread. The operator must then reverse the hold on the wand to orient it so that the slot aligns in parallel with the opposite lateral edge of the tread as the wand is moved to the center of the tread.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,446 illustrates a prior art vacuum nozzle useful for stair treads and risers.
It is believed advantageous to provide a cleaning apparatus, or wand, for cleaning a carpeted stair that is configured to permit an operator to move the wand bi-directionally across the long dimension of the stair tread.